Good morning! So, as if you couldn’t have guessed, I’m sort of stuck on old books right now. So when I spotted this post on Pinterest (yes I’m sort of obsessed with that too) I knew I could do something similar. I think these orbs are just hanging sculptures, but when I saw them I immediately thought, those could be awesome lanterns!

I took the pages from an old paperback, cut the pages in half and then trimmed off the corners to make one side a semi-circle. Add a paper lantern, and my trusty glue gun and I was off to the races. I decided to glue the pieces on so that every other scallop was on top, and every other scallop was underneath. It was a tiny bit more complicated this way, but I felt that the visual look was worth it.

I wanted the scallops to have a nice loose look, so I used as little glue as possible, just one little dot in each square corner of each piece. This left a nice loose look, and since the paper is so light I wasn’t worried about needing more glue to hold each piece in place.

I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the look of this lantern, in daylight. When it is lit, however I’m not 100% sure. I don’t like how you can see the shape of the scallops so clearly, where it goes from only one layer of paper to two layers. Its not terrible, but its not great either. I’m thinking though, if I overlapped each piece more closely, maybe you wouldn’t have any area only covered by one piece of paper, and the whole lantern would look more cohesive. This project was so easy and inexpensive I might just try another version, maybe with smaller scallops more closely layered. For now though, you can purchase this lantern in my Etsy lighting shop.

What are your thoughts, do you mind where you can see the scalloped pieces meet? The look is growing on me, and I’m wondering if I’m just being obsessive. Any opinions?

23 Responses to Project 19 Week 22 – Book Pages Pendant Lantern

hi.. i like this project so much for its simplicity.. and a suggestion.. u have left the base of the paper straight.. instead u could have cut out an arc.. that way the area with two layers of paper will have a crescent like shape but again u will have to spend time on the aligning the paper so that u get better results.. again.. its just a suggestion..

That’s a great suggestion, I was actually thinking just this afternoon that if I had cut out full circles instead of the shingle shape, I would have at least had more interesting overlapping areas. I think that this change of shape, combined with a tighter overlap, would solve all my problems! I think I’m going to try another version, maybe this time with newspaper, and use circles instead. I’ll make sure to post my results, so stay tuned!

What is your base that you glued the pieces onto? I am wanting to make one of these for my nursery out of children’s book pages and alphabet cards, but I am nervous about the paper getting too hot and it ending up being a fire hazard (anxious mommy I guess).

I used a regular asian paper lantern that I purchased in chinatown. I’m not worried about a fire hazard because everything I added is on the exterior of the lantern, and therefore no closer to the bulb than the lantern itself (which wouldn’t be sold so widely if it was unsafe.) But, if you are still concerned you can always use a CFL bulb which doesn’t get nearly as hot as an incandescent.

I have a Sizzix Big Shot machine for die cutting 9 or so paper shapes at once. I have oval dies, stars, squares, circles, plus many others. I can just imagine a small table lantern with a repeat of different shapes. Your work is extraordinary!

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